Nightime on the ship. Simon exits Rivers room after putting her to bed. He’s clearly exhausted, heads to the kitchen and finds Book.

Book: Late night?
Simon: Late night, long day, it all just sort of merges together out here.
Book: (Smiles) It’s hard to adjust to the lack of light.
Simon: Do you mean in the literal or the proverbial sense?
Book: No light at the end of your particular tunnel?
Simon: (Shakes head) No, but…..speaking of light, she..ah… illuminated these for you. (Hands book the pages of his bible, but they’ve been drawn all over) I’m sorry, I didn’t realize she had them.
Book: She…borrowed them… a while back. She tried to fix my bible, it wasn’t making sense to her.
Simon: I’m so sorry…
Book: (Admires the work) Not to worry. It’s not really a book, a thing meant to sit on a shelf. It is more alive now because she touched it and it touched her. Look, she did a beautiful job.
Simon: I’m glad you like it. She said that it helped her…she was able to focus on the drawing…said it helped her mind stay quiet.
Book: How is she?
Simon: Well, it’s … it’s like head trauma, but it’s not. It’s like psychosis, but it’s not. It’s drug-related, but it’s not. It’s not like anything else ever. This is all brand new. There’s no literature out there that touches on it.
Book: How are you?
Simon: (Total denial) I’m.. I’m fine.
Book: If you’re going to be a fugitive son, you really do have to work on telling lies….Can I help?
Simon: Do you have a background in neurology?
Book: I’m afraid not.
Simon: Then there’s not much else you can do.
Book: You’re much better at sarcasm than you are at lying, but they’re hiding the same thing and you know it.
Simon: (Defeated) Do you take confessions?
Book: Not as such, but I can hear whatever you need to say.
Simon: (Sits down, elbows on knees, head in hands) The other night…I was on the couch…with Kaylee. And ..and…we were talking (smiles remembering) and it was so good….But then River woke up screaming. And I thought, just for a second, I wished she’d never wake up again.
Book: (Nods)
Simon: And I can’t stop thinking about it, and wondering if she can tell, and second guessing everything I do.
Book: You love your sister, and you prove it every day. Just because you …flinched…doesn’t make you any less devoted.
Simon: (Not what he needed to hear) Thank you.
Book: Did you know, back in the war, the viral weaponry was particularly devastating. Every soldier had to carry small booster packs to help save them as soon as they realized they were exposed.
Simon: (Not getting this) She’s completely clean, she doesn’t…
Book: (interrupts) That’s not where I was going with this little parable. Each soldier had it drilled into their heads, from day one, to boost themselves before boosting anyone who’d fallen in battle.
Simon: It’s strategic, a healthy soldier is of more use than and injured soldier, so the healthy comes first, the injured comes second. It’s front-line triage. Greatest good for the greatest number.
Book: There’s that, yes, but in a viral campaign, it’s especially critical. Exposure beacons go off and the soldiers who boost their friends first might very well be passing on the virus, especially to those who aren’t able to fight it off naturally.
Simon: What are you saying?
Book: I think maybe this is your beacon. You’re being warned. Despair has taken a hold of your sister, and is pulling you along in her undertow. In order to save her, you have to save yourself.
Simon: Got a booster for that?
Book: An oldie but goodie. Love.
Simon: (Chuckles a bit, pinches nose) It’s in short supply nowadays. River has a bad habit of assaulting people.
Book: Not for her. For you. And I know for a fact it’s not in short supply. In fact (Hears footsteps) I think I hear some coming right now.

Kaylee enters: Hey you two! What are you doing up? I thought I was all on my lonesome, and here you two are, think as thieves. (Winks at Simon) Or maybe there’s just the one thief. (Grabs tea, sits down) Whatcha doin?
Book: I was just headed off to bed actually. Simon was kind enough to return some pages from my bible that River was..improving..and I’d like to give them a read before bed.
Kaylee: (A little disappointed, but then brightens) Oh, well, goodnight shepherd. (Turns to Simon) Looks like it’s just you and me then.
Simon: (Smiles, pours himself tea) Yeah, looks like…You never did finish telling me about your culinary adventures with Inara.
Kaylee: (Begins to gab away as scene fades out) Oh! That’s right! I didn’t tell you the best part…Okay, so my momma always told me there wasn’t any mistake in the kitchen that couldn’t be fixed with enough butter or whipped cream, so I figured we’d just go on and whip ourselves up a big batch………..(Fade out, Simon smiling and listening intently)

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